We live in a world where a girl is given an execution for stealing a piece of corn. She is not given a trial, or even a chance for retribution.  She is not given a seventh year of life. Instead, she gets to be beaten with a classroom pointer; she gets to be murdered in front of her unaffected kindergarten classmates and a brief page in another’s biography.

 

             Today, #KimJongUn was “trending” on twitter. The topic was a basis for many attempts at humor voiced in 140 characters or less. But why is there a response to the execution of a member of a family of ruthless dictators used a root for jokes such as “If Kim Jong Un didn’t want his uncle to show up for Christmas Dinner, all he had to do was say so. #KimJongUn” or “A little extreme isn’t it #KimJongUn? When my Uncle becomes unruly at a party we just cut him off and call him a taxi.” why is it acceptable to mock the life and murder of any human being, yet ignore another’s?

 

            Over one hundred thousand people are imprisoned in North Korean prison camps (http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/05/21768325-north-korea-expands-prison-camp-where-inmates-dig-own-graves-amnesty-international). The existence of these camps is denied by North Korean officials; however consistent accounts from former prisoners and satellite images disprove this.  There are many organizations devoted to the liberation of North Korean war prisoners, but they still exist. People there are still suffering and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives. The need for power and control should never be allowed to corrupt another’s life. What will we tell our children and our children’s children when they are our age? Will we tell them that we were too frightened to act? War terrifies me, but the idea that people are forced to live in hell-holes like prison camps, while I am in a comfortable, warm home makes me more ashamed than I can say. War is never necessary or vindicated. The world needs to stop watching and help. Each and every human life is equal and everyone is justified to the same rights.  The world does not owe anything to the human race, but we, as humans, owe it to each other to coexist as one.  

 

            Some may think that we need to “fix” the United States before we rush of to help another country.  But, we don’t beat children to death over corn. Twelve year old boys don’t rat out their mothers, brothers, friends and even strangers over unjust laws. We don’t live in a culture where one hundred thousand people are forced to live in modern day concentration camps, without the cruel reprieve of death. Nonetheless, there are people who live this way. Freedom is a basic human need. Food, clean water, shelter warmth. All denied for the comfort and power of few at the expense of a massive amount of individuals.

 

            Our world is madness. 

 

Five Chimneys Response

                To start this blog off, I thought that I would address a fairly well know topic. The Holocaust. A few of you may groan and think “yet another Holocaust post…” I feel the same way on occasion, but I promise that it’s important. My brother once tried to trick me by asking if a pound of bricks weighs more than a pound of feather. Little did he know, I was pretty quick on my toes (or wit?) and answered that they were equal. And every human life is also equal, and those lost to the devastating genocide that was the Holocaust should all be recognized and remembered. 

                    Olga Lengyel was a Jewish Holocaust survivor who wrote a beautiful memoir. She was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and, at risk of giving away the story, was able to survive until liberation. I wrote a letter about her story, but am unable to send it, as she died in 2001 after battling three bouts of cancer. I chose to post the letter here to honor her and her experiences that were unfairly dealt to her. 

                       

            Dear Olga Lengyel,

            Your story in Five Chimneys was both miserable and inspiring. It shows the true experiences that one would live through in the Holocaust.  I enjoyed the incredible depth and emotion that was shown on every page. The straight-forward writing was captivating and made the story easy to understand. It showed the real evil in the world and was beautifully told.

            Thank you for sharing this story. It solidified the sentiments behind the Holocaust and provided incredibly raw information that opened my eyes to the wrong and cruelty, but also the small kindnesses of our world.

                        Thank you.  

And thanks to everyone who read this! Whether you subscribe or not doesn’t matter, but I will be posting more of my writing and stuff. Adios and et cetera… 

Hi to anyone who actually reads this! Sorry for the super generic introduction, but this is where I post all of my controversial and possibly offensive opinions and some cool human rights stuff. I'll include some stories from my few travels abroad and such. Enjoy a North Idahoan high schooler's ramblings :)